while you were missing
by Kane Shi Megami
Summary: Sasuke returns 10 yrs later to try to put together what chance of life he has left. Things aren't what they seem. Sasuxsaku naruxsaku naruxhina mini naurto!


The raven haired shinobi crouched lower on the branch surveying the area. The only other presence thus far was the ANBU that had been assigned to him- currently thirty yards back. As much as he didn't like being looked after, the facts were that he was a traitor and he'd only returned last night. It would be a long time before he was granted any trust.

He just wished that his reunion with his pink haired team mate wasn't under the watchful eye of Shino. One- he thought it should be private, and two he really hated creepy bugs.

Maybe the Hokage in training knew him better than he thought; or everyone was irksome when it came to Shino's family ability.

A woman stepped into the clearing. Her pastel locks were still short, perhaps a bit shorter than he remembered, with the hiate no longer on her head but worn around her neck. She wore black sleeveless top with black shorts and a black skirt- also much shorter than what he remembered, with her white med jacket in her arms. Her pouch was tied on her right leg and knee length black boots doubled as shin guards.

She placed the jacket under a tree before beginning her warm up stretches. Sasuke was content in watching her, after all it'd been seven years since he last saw her, and ten years since he'd step foot in Konoha. And she was not the same little girl he left on the park bench that night; in fact it would be ignorant of him to call her 'little' anything.

He watched as she moved on to simple practice stances, allowing his eyes to simply watch her without scrutiny. Yeah, he definitely owed Naruto for telling him where she would be. Although he might have done it so that if he accidentally let Sakura know he was here she might kill him for trespassing on her grounds. Technically it was Konoha's grounds but Naruto informed him earlier that Team Seven's old training area had been off limits as a favor for her.

She continued undisturbed, moving through the movements like a dance, concentrating her chakra at times. Things had changed dramatically while he was away, he hoped that her feelings weren't one of them; after all he was free from any obligation other than Konoha. He'd killed both his brother and Orochimaru, he even brought back his head to the village to grant him access to the Hokage.

When he'd arrived last night he expected to only deal with the fifth Hokage, but instead he found both she and the dobe in her office looking through scrolls, or rather she drinking sake over scrolls and he asleep on couch. Shouts from both blondes made him wish he was temporarily deaf. But even then he allowed them their tirades and then explained the situation.

He'd killed Itachi over a month ago and Orochimaru had been dead for a week. Sasuke had been avoiding giving his body over and he took three other bodies during the last ten years, but the third one wasn't as powerful as he thought and tried to switch bodies sooner than allowed. It was the perfect opportunity to kill him; so he did.

There was nothing left outside of Konoha so he came to be trialed and pledge his loyalty to the Leaf. His old friend had forgiven him faster than he should have but he was still grateful to have someone like him. Tsunade had turned over any jurisdiction to Naruto telling him 'This will be your village soon enough, you deal with him how you see fit.'

Perhaps she was still a bit drunk.

Either way his trial began in a few days and he had a new seal placed on his shoulder. She said it was for tracking him incase something happened, but he felt that it was more of a chakra restraint because he'd felt terrible afterwards. Naruto didn't say much after the general guidelines had been established. Shino would trade off with Nara as guard for the rest of the week and then he would have someone else monitor him off and on for a year.

The trial would decide if he would be allowed to be a member of the Leaf shinobi again and if he would be allowed to stay. Naruto however made it seem like it was all said and done and he mused that it was good to have friends in high places. Had Naruto not volunteered to speak for him he was sure he'd face death.

When he was leaving that night to go make sense of his new home, Naurto mentioned how Sakura trained on Team Seven's training grounds every morning before work. Sasuke didn't stop the blonde and he was content in hearing a bit more of his ex-teammates success as a medical nin and still apprentice of the current Hokage.

His body tensed as he saw a young boy around the age of four with blonde hair run out into the field, eyes closed with his arms flailing.

"Kaasan!"

Sasuke's heart stopped. There had to be a mistake; that boy looked identical to Naruto and he was calling Sakura mother.

Sakura stopped in her stretch and when she saw the boy ran out to meet him halfway tossing him up into the air both laughing and smiling. It would be the most wonderful sight for any man to see his family in such a way. The problem was that it wasn't his, Sakura had moved on, with what appeared to be Naruto.

Clenching his fist in anger at his friend he was about to jump back when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Did you think she wait forever?" Shino asked; face still hidden in his jacket despite the warm weather.

The truth of the matter was that Sasuke _had_ thought of the possibility of her giving up on him. But he still had hope that her love for him at twelve would carry on till twenty two. He should have known better, cursing himself mentally for being so stupid he jumped back a few trees distancing himself from yet another failure. When he was clear he jumped down to the ground jamming his fists in his pockets before walking towards the Hokage's office.

He didn't have to go far; Naruto was already waiting at the bridge leaving Team Seven's grounds. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, trying desperately to hold back the rage he felt. "You let me go to her without knowing? Did you think it wouldn't change anything?"

The younger man who still dressed in some orange leaned more on the bridge, "So are you saying you don't love her now?"

"What the hell does it matter if I love her or not she's yours!" He shouted restraining himself from becoming physical. "Do you hate me that much? You gave me a life back but I'm alone!"

There were many reactions that Sasuke expected from the future Kage, but laughter was not one of them. "So you do love her?" he managed during bursts of laughs.

"What the hell is wrong with you!"

"Just answer the question teme, do you love her?"

Sasuke recoiled both mentally and physically thinking of the question at hand and not at the familiar old nickname. Did he love her? Logically it was absurd, of course he couldn't, he hadn't seen her in years, he wouldn't know a thing about her. But if there was a bit of what she was at twelve, he supposed he could grow to love her.

"I love who she was when we were younger. I love that she's not weak, and I love her loyalty. I can't love her as who she is now because I don't know her anymore." His voice was surer than what he was feeling, but he supposed he'd always had that gift, to never show weakness in one's voice.

"But you could someday right?" he pestered smiling broader.

"I suppose." He answered back the truth.

"Okay then she's yours."

"EXCUSE ME?" The dobe had obviously lost a few brain cells since the last time he'd seen him, or he was playing a messed up mind game taunting him with something he couldn't have. Sasuke was no idiot, he knew how Naruto had felt for their team mate years ago, and a part of him wished that she would return his feelings to achieve some kind of happiness. But after coming back and realizing it was what happened he could only curse himself for being ignorant of his true feelings.

"Sakura-chan isn't my wife Sasuke."

That should have been the end of it. He should have been thrilled, but it didn't change the fact that there had to have been some emotions between the two of them for there to be a child. He would never step in between their new family.

"Naruto I've seen him."

Confusion was no stranger to Naruto, but this time he truly looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"You're son; he's with Sakura on the grounds."

Slamming the railing with his fists he shouted, "That little brat's suppose to be in school!"

"I'm sure his mother will send him back, you know she was about perfect attendance," Sasuke tried to reason.

Naruto said nothing only clenching his fists tighter knuckles going white.

"What?"

"Tetsunosuke doesn't like school very much," Naruto answered after a brief pause.

"I wonder where he got that from," he wondered aloud.

Blowing off his comment he began, "He never has, he went through a really tough time when he was younger, he was really out of place."

Sasuke didn't know much about the fox demon sealed inside Naruto, but he was fairly sure it would stay in him and not be passed down, so the villagers had no _real_ reason to fear him. His mother was intelligent and a great medical nin from what he heard, so they couldn't possibly tease him about that either. His father would one day be the Hokage….. things weren't adding up, the boy sounded like he had everything.

"Sakura-chan isn't Tetsunosuke's real mother."

"…."

Looking into the clear blue sky Naruto's eyes seemed to have become distant and wise quickly. "I married Hinata-chan when we were only seventeen……She was great, everything I ever wanted in a wife, she was so understanding too. She always listened to my stories and I felt like she really _got_ me you know?"

"….."

"Anyway, when I found out we were pregnant naturally I was excited as hell, we'd be a family and I'd never be alone again. But Hinata-chan's health wasn't doing to well, and baaba wanted to terminate the pregnancy."

Sasuke said nothing and only hoped his silence would encourage him to finish.

"She wouldn't have any of that of course. Hinata was always caring about others instead of herself. She told me on the day we had him that she did it for me and to honor her memory by loving him for the both of us and give him everything I couldn't have as a child." He laughed but there was no humor in his voice.

"She told me that maybe this would help me to be a peace with myself." He snorted, "Can you believe that, _me_ be at _peace_ with anything?"

Sasuke knew better, if anything Hinata had been right on some accounts. "So he was teased because he didn't have a mother?"

"Hai."

Children could be cruel without even knowing it, he as well as Naruto knew this first hand.

"But Sakura-chan found out and she was pissed. Man I'm telling you, you do not want to see that girl mad. I think she called every student's parents giving them an earful about how bad mannered their children were and that Tetsunosuke couldn't help that he didn't have a mother, she had died during childbirth. Needless to say the teasing stopped. But he still felt out of place."

Naruto began walking towards the field and Sasuke found himself following, interested in what all had occurred while he'd been gone, regretting not being here for his friend.

"Well, Tetsunosuke never knew his mother, I showed him pictures and stuff and Neji dropped by every now and then, but it was still kinda hard. So naturally Sakura stepped in and took him to meet the Hyuuga clan. I'd never been there since our wedding day and Hinata's father and I avoided each other, he blamed me for her death and I blamed him for the seventeen years of misery he put her through. But when he met two year old Tetsu he was actually nice from what I hear."

Sighing he put his arms behind his head, "When he was two and a half he began calling Sakura mother. He was still too young to understand why everyone else had a 'kaasan' and he didn't, so he chose Sakura to be his surrogate mother. She passed out the first time; she didn't know what the hell to do. But I told her it was fine, I mean it wasn't like we cut Hinata-chan out of his life, he still meets with the Hyuuga's every weekend. I think they were both happier after that day, and I think it was what Hinata would have wanted me to do."

Sakura, Sasuke decided, was still the same person she was ten years ago. Only she would step in and be the friend Naruto needed and take Tetsunosuke under her wing like that.

"You know teme, she wants lots of children right?"

He had definitely been blind sighted by that one.

He said nothing, he couldn't even think of a smart ass remark if he wanted to because they had found their way to a familiar clearing with two other people in it. All four stopped what they were doing, thinking and saying and just stared. Sasuke noticed that the boy's eyes were identical to that of a Hyuuga, the Byakugan combined with Naruto's strength would be a deadly force one day.

Tetsunosuke broke out into a run after a while knocking his father down with him.

"I'm so sorry I missed school today tousan! I promise I won't miss anymore this week okay!"

"Of course you won't today is Friday." Naruto said rubbing the new knot on his head.

The little boy wouldn't be deterred trying to avoid whatever punishment was usually given, "Okay I won't miss anymore school this whole month!" he said spreading his arms out to a shape on he could see.

Sakura who had started walking back after Testsunosuke was in front of them now, her expression blank as she continued to stare at Sasuke.

"Sakura."

She still said nothing and could feel the two Uzumaki's on the ground watching intently. What the hell do I say he mused mentally. She threw herself at him wrapping her arms around his torso, "I'm glad you're back Sasuke," he heard her mummer into his shirt. Before he could return the embrace she had already pulled back flashing him the smile he remembered from so long ago.

"Tetsu and I were about to go back to the school for the second half of class-

"No we weren't Kaasan! I want to stay with you!" The boy wailed so much like his father Saskue noticed even the tempers and love of Sakura.

"Do you two want to join us?" She finished completely unfazed by the boy.

Sasuke nodded and Naruto flashed a victory sign to the boy, "Haha I told you she wouldn't take your side on this buddy, she's all about school!"

Tetsu mumbled something before grabbing Sakura's hand and walking off towards the academy. It sounded suspiciously like 'baka', and Sasuke decided Naruto's spawn wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would be.

Following behind them he felt an odd sense of déjà vu and it wasn't such a bad feeling. For now they were the loving friends he once had and his new family. Sakura had forgiven him no questions asked and Naruto as well; perhaps there was a life after Itachi after all.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

OKAY! I'M FINISHED! One sitting three hours with breaks  Joy. Hope you like it, kinda ooc on Sasuke's part but I had to make him a sucker for Sakura! I just watched the first movie not to long ago and SPOILER: at the end Sasuke's head is on Sakura's lap so I had a fluff sakuxsask inspiration moment!

SPOILER OVER.

But anyway love it hate it let me know! I don't mind flames honest.

Disclaimer: These characters of Naruto are not mine!


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